Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

Well, since Cartoon Network took down Cartoonstitute, I guess I'll mention what's on their official website.

CN will not air a new "Chowder" this week (it will return next week, tho...). However, last week's is up, and it's pretty funny. Called "A Faire to Remember", Chowder becomes friends with another girl, making Panini very jealous. See it, it's only going to be up for 2 weeks.

Panini's pretty much the highlight of the episode, especially the way she's drawn. And this is probably the only time you'll see her "inner male", complete with Popeye-arms, 4-o'clock shadows, and speaking in a very manly voice.

"The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" continues to amaze me. One of the neat things is that the styles vary depending on the writer/board artists. I'm beginning to love the Sean Szeles-Somvilay Xayaphone episodes that's been coming out this season and "S.S. K'Nuckles" is no exception. What I found amazing is it has like 3 different subplots going on in a 11 minute cartoon, and it ties up in the end. Watch it here.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009

One of my favorite anime I've watched as a kid was DOKONJO GAERU (Frog with Guts). It was about a boy who one day fell down and accidentally got a frog pasted on his shirt. The frog somehow survived and as a result the boy now has to live with him.

It was originally a comic drawn by Yasumi Yoshizawa. It got turned into an anime by Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1972. It ran for 103 episodes.

Here's a clip. Sorry about the poor quality.

There's something to be said about the animation in this show. While crude, it's full of life with great expressions. One of the best uses of limited animation. I wish more shows today (whether it originated in USA or Japan) does that.

It was confirmed that the body found on Mt. Arafune was that of Shin-chan creator Yoshito Usui. Last Friday he went mountain climbing with the intent of returning home later that day; he didn't come home. He fell to his death.

I loved watching "Shin Chan" as a kid in Japan and later watched its airings on Adult Swim. All I can say is, what a terrible way to go.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Fox just aired the series finale of “King of the Hill”. While I wouldn’t consider myself a big fan, I’ll admit that I admired the series for its longevity (it was airing for 12 years) and the fact that Hank is probably one of the very few TV dads who’s not an idiot. He made mistakes, but hey, he’s human, and he’s certainly isn’t like Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin. And for that, I admire Mike Judge for it.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Some of you may remember the "U.S. Acres" segments that aired on the Garfield and Friends show years ago. What many doesn't know is that it was based on another comic strip Jim Davis was doing. It only lasted couple years (the animated series lasted longer).

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

The UPN Dilbert series from 1999-2000 were one of the last cartoons to be painted on cels before all the studios switched to digital ink and paint, so this is pretty cool to have.

The Dilbert cel and the woman cel came with original animation drawings (no scans yet, sorry) and one thing I noticed was that parts of the drawing were xeroxed in from a pre-existing drawing, with only the parts moving drawn in. So I guess a form of "tweening" can happen in a hand-drawn cartoon.